Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 5h

I want to live in a kinder world too. So we have to not give up on that.

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 5h

This.

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 5h

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 6h

In which I look at animal research for The New York Times and find some surprising answers.

Opinion | Can Trump End This Impossibly Cruel Practice?

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

alt Environmental Health @alt-enviro-health.bsky.social · 23h

Because of course

EPA asks court to reverse its own PFAS drinking water standards

wcyb.com/newsletter-d...

EPA asks court to reverse its own PFAS drinking water standards

After years of work to remove chemicals known as PFAS from our drinking water, the EPA is now asking a federal court to reverse its own rules regulating them. L

wcyb.com

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 22h

I'll be giving a rare talk on my book, The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England, Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7:00 PM (eastern) in New Castle, New Hampshire (the setting of the book). Also available online at: tinyurl.com/mtd7jh3v

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 1d

"Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk. He has rejected science, misled the public and compromised the health of Americans."

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.

We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

wapo.st

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 1d

This seems smart. (FSMA is the Food Safety Modernization Act, which passed in the 2011 when Obama was president).

FDA Uses FSMA Authority to Stop Radioactive Food Imports From Indonesia

After discovering radioactive isotope Cesium-137 in shipments of shrimp and spices from Indonesia, FDA is exercising for the first time a power granted by Congress under the Food Safety Modernization ...

www.food-safety.com

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 1d

Making America safer again, I see.

Government Shutdown Affects Food Safety: HHS Furloughs Employees, FDA Pauses CORE Investigation Table

FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Investigation Table, which summarizes ongoing and closed foodborne illness outbreak investigations, has been put on pause. Additionally, HHS i...

www.food-safety.com

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Jake Tapper, who eviscerated Biden for the sin of growing older, has done everything but help install a chair lift in the White House to cover up Trump's deepening dementia and utter feebleness.

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 2d

Jake Tapper did a whole interview with Trump by text message? Which means he can't actually confirm it was him. And now everyone's asking even more than before very reasonable questions about the wannabe dictator's health.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

The CNN anchor did not explain how he verified that it was the president — not any of his aides — who authored the written responses to his questions.

He also did not explain whether he’d made any effort to speak with the president by phone, something that has become commonplace for reporters covering the second Trump administration because Trump has maintained use of his personal mobile phone since returning to the presidency and frequently uses it to contact reporters directly.

The president’s purported text message exchange with Tapper was also unusual because Trump is not known to be a frequent user of his phone’s text message capacity.

He also famously eschews email and other written forms of communication and during his first term he openly complained when attorneys working for his administration took notes during meetings.

Trump’s unconventional use of text-based communications to purportedly respond to Tapper comes as questions continue to swirl about the state of his health

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Brandy Schillace @bschillace.brandyschillace.com · 1d

Hello #UK friends! I’m touring the book THE INTERMEDIARIES starting next week. It’s a deeply researched look at the way #LGBTQ and #women used science and rebel alliances to fight fascists—it offers up a reminder that we can fight back. Nazis are not inevitable—they just want you to think so.

BRANDY SCHILLACE
THE INTERMEDIARIES
UK BOOK TOUR
All event are listed in local time.
OCT. 16 - 6:30pm
LONDON, ENGLAND WATERSTONES - GOWER ST in conversation with C.N. Lester
OCT. 21 - 5:00pm
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
OCT. 22 - 7:00pm
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND LIGHTHOUSE BOOKS
OC. 23 - 7:00pm
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND WATERSTONES - ARGYLE ST
OCT. 20 - 6:30pm
LONDON, ENGLAND KING'S COLLEGE LONDON
OCT. 21 - 7:00pm
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND QUEER LIT
OCT. 23 - 2:00pm
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3d

My message to Kristi Noem is clear: Get out of Chicago.

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Kim Davis @kldpsa.bsky.social · 3d

Even if you support ICE in general (and you can f*** off if you do), how do support this casual use of chemical agents in the middle of a busy street for no discernible reason?

Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 3d

Family, Grocery Shoppers Run As Masked Agent Throws Smoke Bomb Onto Busy Chicago Street blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/03/f...

Family, Grocery Shoppers Run As Masked Agent Throws Smoke Bomb Onto Busy Chicago Street

Federal immigration agents appeared to be targeting Rico Fresh grocery store in Logan Square. “I thought this is a country where I can have freedom," one witness said. "Did I think this would happen t...

blockclubchicago.org

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 3d

1937 Germany would like its propaganda machine back

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 3d

wapo.st/4qa8yoq

Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans

Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.

wapo.st

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 3d

Family, Grocery Shoppers Run As Masked Agent Throws Smoke Bomb Onto Busy Chicago Street blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/03/f...

Family, Grocery Shoppers Run As Masked Agent Throws Smoke Bomb Onto Busy Chicago Street

Federal immigration agents appeared to be targeting Rico Fresh grocery store in Logan Square. “I thought this is a country where I can have freedom," one witness said. "Did I think this would happen t...

blockclubchicago.org

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 3d

I'll bet.

Indonesia's shrimp industry suffers after radioactive case, association says

Indonesia's shrimp industry suffered a 30-35% drop in processing absorption after a radioactive contamination was detected in a batch of shrimp shipped to the U.S. in August, the country's shrimp farmers' association said on Friday.

www.reuters.com

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 3d

E.R. staff are under mounting pressure to discharge patients as fast as they can: Cynics among them call their job “moving the meat.” (gift article)

It’s Just a Virus, the E.R. Told Him. Days Later, He Was Dead.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Mindy Weisberger @laminda.bsky.social · 4d

Come feed your 🧠 some zombie science & discover the nightmarish world of zombie-makers & their mind-controlled victims! I'll be talking about Rise of the Zombie Bugs at two events:

10/24: Word Bookstore, Jersey City
11/5: Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, NYC

Info: mindyweisberger.com/events/ 🧪

A spooky cemetery background with a book in the center: "Rise of the Zombie Bugs," by Mindy Weisberger. The top third of the graphic shows two small headshots: a white woman on the left and a white man on the right. Text between the photos reads "Friday, October 24 at 7:00PM, Mindy Weisberger in conversation with Nick Ciavatta." Text over the lower third of the graphic reads: "WORD Bookstore, 29 McWilliams Pl, Jersey City, NJ, mindyweisberger.com/events"

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 4d

Federal agents are overtly abusing their power to try to intimidate advocates and elected officials. We need ICE out of Illinois immediately and justice for people like Ald. Jessie Fuentes who are defending their communities.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/03/f...

Federal Agents Handcuff Chicago Alderperson At Hospital ER

In another incident caught on video Friday, federal agents inside a car randomly threw tear gas into a Logan Square street while people — including a 2-year-old — were outside nearby.

blockclubchicago.org

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Krassensteins @krassenstein.bsky.social · 5d

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Monica Maalouf, MD @maaloufmd.bsky.social · 5d

My husband was detained by ICE today

Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away

I have had zero contact or updates since

#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 4d

Sign for the times.

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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 4d

Yes.

Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 5d

This should be above the fold on every newspaper. Lead story for days on every broadcast and cable news program.

That it's not is a measure of how badly we need to break the current media ecosystem.

Break the NYT's hold on elite opinion shaping. Turn the Ellisons' equity in CBS into green stamps.

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 5d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 7d

ICE lied about the person it shot, claiming he was a "criminal," but NBC finds that he had no criminal history whatsoever. Not even traffic tickets in 12 years! It also lied about the extent of the injuries to its agents....

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Reposted by Deborah Blum

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 6d

Either most universities get shoehorned into the Trump scheme, eliminating the funding advantage, or a subset take the poisoned fruit and are isolated by peers who rightly view this as blood money and cheating.

There is no upside for any university to take the deal.

AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 6d

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ... UT Austin is one of the 9 schools offered a deal: accede to White House demands and get funding priority

Exclusive | White House Asks Colleges to Sign Sweeping Agreement to Get Funding Advantage

An initial round of nine schools is being asked to sign a wide-ranging accord.

www.wsj.com

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